


all the stories you will leave

by allourheroes



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel 616, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, Kid Fic, Possibly Pre-Slash, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-02
Updated: 2014-06-02
Packaged: 2018-02-03 04:57:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1732004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allourheroes/pseuds/allourheroes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam is going to miss this kid, but he kind of <i>needs</i> his friend back.</p>
<p>
  <i>The Hydra agent escapes and they watch in confusion and dread as Bucky's metal arm rends itself from his flesh and drops to the stone floor. For one second, it's like a miracle. Bucky has his left arm again and he stares at it in wonder before he starts to panic again. His scars are disappearing and they start to realize the Hydra scientists aren't just fucking with science, they're fucking with <b>magic</b>, and that's terrifying.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	all the stories you will leave

**Author's Note:**

> For anon, who wanted: "Sam&Bucky where Bucky gets de aged and Sam has to take care of him while Steve and Nat are hunting down the Hydra ass who did this to him. :-)"
> 
> Um. I kind of made it so it was Sam&Bucky with the possibility of future Sam/Bucky, but you can really read it however. Also, I mixed 616 and MCU…
> 
> I hope this is alright!
> 
> (Title is from "Laughter Lines" by Bastille because I really couldn't think of anything.)

They're pretty sure whatever was in the dart has no effect on Bucky--even the Hydra agent's face starts to fall--but then, something changes and Bucky's scream is enough to distract the rest of them.

The Hydra agent escapes and they watch in confusion and dread as Bucky's metal arm rends itself from his flesh and drops to the stone floor. For one second, it's like a miracle. Bucky has his left arm again and he stares at it in wonder before he starts to panic again. His scars are disappearing and they start to realize the Hydra scientists aren't just fucking with science, they're fucking with _magic_ , and that's terrifying.

Bucky's throat is working, unable to think of what to say. He just curses and his body continues rapidly getting younger and younger until he looks to be about four or so--maybe more a kid than a toddler--and his clothes hang loose around him.

Bucky looks at them, one by one, his eyes wide. "Steve?" he says and it's instantaneous, Steve there kneeling before him.

"Yeah, buddy?"

Bucky's face crinkles, "How'd you get so old?"

Steve smiles, hiding his worries. "James, can you tell me how old _you_ are?"

~

After they acquire the significantly smaller Bucky some basics--clothes, shoes, etc.--they work on turning him back. They've got Richards, Stark, and Banner checking him out and no word from Strange.

"We need whatever it is they put in that dart," Bruce tells them, rubbing his eyes beneath his glasses.

Natasha looks at Steve and they both know what the other is thinking.

"Can you find him, Nat?"

She nods in the affirmative. "He's got friends. I've got my ways."

~

No one can know about this. If word got out Bucky was nothing more than a defenseless kid, his enemies would find him--and, unfortunately, he's got plenty of those.

"You coming, Wilson?" Natasha asks, changing into her Black Widow. She's got the intel they need; the agent has escaped into Canada and they're about to disrespect some very lax boundaries.

"You know that spy stuff isn't for me," Sam tells her with a smile and a shake of his head. "'Sides," he tilts his chin in Bucky's direction, "someone's gotta take care a' him."

Natasha seems to look at Bucky for a long moment, as if assessing his chances, before giving Sam a curt nod.

Steve scoops Bucky up into his arms, the kid struggling half-heartedly in protest, and ruffles his hair. "Be good while we're gone, James," he says with a smirk--Bucky was never an easy kid back in the day. He's certain that hasn't changed.

"D'ya hafta go?" Bucky asks, his bottom lip trembling and making Steve's heart break a little.

"I gotta, pal," Steve tells him. "But I'll be back."

"Promise?"

"I promise," Steve says seriously. "Sam will take great care of you, alright?"

Bucky eyes Sam suspiciously and Sam remembers his older self having to adjust to the idea of their friendship. He's pretty sure the only person this Bucky so much as tolerates as Steve--and he didn't even grow _up_ in the era of stranger danger. (Although probably not a "love thy neighbor" time either, Sam thinks ruefully, not that he really knows anyway.)

The first thing Bucky does once he's decided to stop staring at Sam suspiciously is to find Redwing and start trying to touch his feathers. The indignant squawk is all Sam needs before he's scooping Bucky up off of the floor. "Whoa, whoa, whoa."

Bucky scrabbles to get out of his arms and Sam puts him down as carefully as he can, given the amount of movement generated from one tiny little person--the kid is still scrappy and he'd rather not get kicked anywhere _delicate_ , thank you very much. Bucky stumbles and falls, but he rights himself again like he didn't.

"Sorry," Sam says and Bucky watches as Sam offers the bird his arm, looking truly apologetic.

"What're you doing?" Bucky asks, but Sam isn't done talking to birds, apparently, and offers no response.

"I got a soft spot for him, alright?" Sam says and the bird snaps his beak back at him--or at least that's all Bucky can make of it.

"Bird," Bucky says, scrutinizingly. His eyes narrow at Redwing.

Sam grins and then sends a glare at the bird as if he's been slighted--again. "Redwing," he corrects Bucky, who, even as little more than a toddler, simply cocks an eyebrow at him.

"Bucky-- James, I mean," Sam corrects quickly as Bucky frowns at him. "Redwing's not just a bird, he's-- he's--" Sam scrubs a hand over his very short hair and smiles at Bucky, "Let's see if I've got some ice cream or somethin'. Or GI Joes. Whatever, really." He very much doubts it but he doesn't exactly deal with kids on a daily basis. His house is not exactly the best equipped--although he supposes it's probably _safer_ than the Tower or, shit, _Natasha's_ apartment would've been, anyway.

Redwing vacates their vicinity with a definite air of disdain.

He takes Bucky's hand--the left, something in him notes--knowing the kid will probably run off again otherwise, and Bucky seems to accept this as some kind of weird truce, however reluctantly. Bucky still looks at everything in Sam's house like it's calling to him, wanting to be broken maybe, but Bucky has realized that Sam promised him something and is willing to wait a little longer before he reigns down some possible destruction.

~

It takes Steve and Natasha about two days to track down the agent and the more unsavory details are better left to the imagination. They get this anti-aging, practically time-turning serum from the guy, and that's what matters.

During this time, Sam has done a lot with Bucky. He has not, however, experienced enough sleep. Sure, Bucky is out pretty early--tiring himself with all the running around Sam can't keep up with, not that Sam could keep up with him all the time anyway--but Sam has messes to clean up. He's got anxiety, fear that they won't fix Bucky and he'll never really get his friend back, never get-- Sam is _worried_.

Plus, Bucky wakes up early--earlier than Sam, even. He opens the door to Sam's room and caws. He's quiet at first, but Sam hears him, groaning half-heartedly as he gets up to make pancakes. Sam becomes an expert at making pancakes in those two days.

Bucky is anxious when Sam tells him they have to go to the Tower. It's the only place with all the right equipment, as well as Bucky's prosthetic. They're going to give him another injection, but they need to be ready for all eventualities.

"Steve's gonna be there," Sam assures Bucky, but the kid is just as good at pouting as his older counterpart.

"You-- you'll come with?" Bucky asks, his eyes wide.

Sam searches Bucky's face, sees those little details of the man he's hopefully getting back under a layer of childhood vulnerability. "'Course," he says with a smile, swallowing down the lump in his throat. "It'll be okay."

~

Bucky's sitting on the table and Banner is eyeing him nervously. Natasha is watching from the corner of the room, as if waiting for this to go badly.

"What's gonna happen to me?" Bucky whispers.

"You're-- you're just gonna be you again." Sam's smile is forced this time. He doesn't know how this works exactly. He knows this kid is just Bucky--a Bucky he hadn't known, buried in the recesses of his friend's memory--but it still feels like goodbye. He's not going to see this kid again if this works. (But if it doesn't, he'll never... It just hurts, either way.)

Steve has a hand on Bucky's shoulder. "It's going to be okay," he says, tone balanced somewhere between friendly Steve Rogers and capable Captain America in his reassurance.

"So they tell me," Bucky mutters, kicking his feet. He's in what is basically a hospital gown so the change won't rip apart his clothes. Steve subtly squeezes his left hand.

"You ready?" Bruce asks, syringe in hand, and Bucky shrugs. Bruce cleans the injection point and studies him. "This might hurt, James."

Bucky nods and both Sam and Steve seem to be holding their breath.

"What's that?" Bucky asks, pointing to his metal arm. Tony lifts it and gives him a wave using the thing.

Steve shares a look with Sam, but then Bruce is leaning in with the needle. Bucky flinches and Sam feels uncomfortable, but Steve doesn't look away and neither will he. He maintains eye contact when Bucky's eyes search for his.

"You got this," he murmurs, but then the screaming starts.

It's pretty horrific when Bucky's arm just sort of...withers away. The screaming doesn't really stop until he's his proper self again. Bucky's left breathing hard and, for all intents and purposes, naked.

"Hey, guys," Bucky breathes with a small smile, looking at Sam, Steve, and Natasha in turn. "What happened?"

His gaze lingers on Sam and Sam wonders if he remembers anything from the last couple of days. "How ya doin', man?" he offers.

(Steve just sighs a relieved, "Bucky.")

"I've been better," Bucky says, frowning at wear his arm should be. "Definitely been worse though."

Natasha ties a new hospital gown on him, the other having fallen to the floor in its uselessness at covering a fully-grown Bucky Barnes.

Tony approaches, arm and tools in hand. "Miss me?"

Bucky rolls his eyes and Steve gives him a moment. Cap goes to Natasha and Bruce as Tony goes about reattaching the prosthetic.

Sam watches the process, but doesn't catch most of what Tony is saying to the former Winter Soldier. After a minute, however, Bucky is watching him, too. They stare at each other in silence, Bucky licking his lips before he finally speaks.

"You're gonna hafta make me pancakes again sometime, Wilson," Bucky says, feigning distraction.

Sam grins.


End file.
